Dead Definition

dĕd
deadest
adjective
deadest
No longer living; having died.
Webster's New World
Such as to suggest death; deathlike.
A dead faint.
Webster's New World
Naturally without life; inanimate.
Dead stones.
Webster's New World
Lacking positive qualities, as of warmth, vitality, interest, brightness, brilliance, etc.
A dead handshake, a dead party, a dead white color.
Webster's New World
Wholly indifferent; insensible.
Dead to love.
Webster's New World
noun
The time of greatest darkness, most intense cold, etc.
The dead of night, the dead of winter.
Webster's New World
People who have died.
Respect for the dead.
American Heritage
The period exhibiting the greatest degree of intensity.
The dead of winter; the dead of night.
American Heritage
Antonyms:
adverb
Completely; absolutely.
Dead wrong, dead set against the idea.
Webster's New World
Directly.
Dead ahead.
Webster's New World
Suddenly.
She stopped dead on the stairway.
American Heritage
Antonyms:
verb

(archaic) Formerly, "be dead" was used instead of "have died" as the perfect tense of "die".

Wiktionary
To prevent by disabling; stop.
Wiktionary
To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.
Wiktionary

(UK, slang) To kill.

Wiktionary
idiom
dead and buried
  • No longer in use or under consideration:

    All past animosities are dead and buried now.

American Heritage
dead in the water
  • Unable to function or move:

    The crippled ship was dead in the water. With no leadership, the project was dead in the water.

American Heritage
dead to rights
  • In the very act of making an error or committing a crime:

    The police caught the thief dead to rights with my silverware.

American Heritage
dead to the world
  • Soundly asleep.
American Heritage
over my dead body
  • Used to express dramatic refusal.
American Heritage

Origin of Dead

  • From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish død.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English ded from Old English dēad dheu-2 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to dead using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

dead